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This is a book written by a women who has dealt with suicide both personally and professionally. Because of this, it is not only a scientifically accurate look at what is known about the reasons for suicide but is also a deeply personal look at the reasons behind suicide and the common misconceptions by the public about suicide.
Firstly the book looks at the relationship between mental illness and suicide and how prescription drugs influence the statistics in this area. The book also looks at case studies of suicide and how it has often struck unexpectedly. Although the book obviously cannot gift us with an insight into how to detect suicide, it does deal with the mental illnesses and the stigma that until recently was coupled with suicide. Even the medical profession, it seems at least in part has a shroud of suicide and the victim is often thought of at best as selfish or sinful. Jamison deals with these stereotypes showing that while suicide has a hugely detrimental effect on friends and family, it cannot be understood in a simple manner of thinking.
The book does focus moreso on suicide among young people but this is not a problem as Jamison explains this early on and recommends more research into the still frighteningly high prevalence of suicide in older people. It also shows the uses of neurotransmitters in the brain and explains studies that have linked these (or a lack of these to suicide).
This book was written right before the end of the 20th century. Therefore, Jamison expresses doubt that SSRIs and other anti-depressants and mood stablisers can cause suicide. Unfortunately, there has now been a link, she also fails to address the problem of over-prescribing dealt with in other books although this is understandable as it does not directly relate to suicide.
I would highly recommend this book. It deals well the the concept of suicide and shows the damage it inflicts widely on society.
This is a non-fiction book, released in 1990 which explores the connections between bipolar illness and levels of artistic mood. It covers several studies including many by the author herself detailing lives, family trees and tentative diagnoses. It also explores whether the suffering these people went through and still continue to go through are necessary to their artistic temperaments.
The first study undertaken by the author concerns British and Scottish poets born between 1705 and 1805, each poet is diagnosed as having either recurrent depression, manic-depressive illness (Bipolar I or II) or psychotic features. In the tables provided suicide and admission to asylums is also taken into account. The comments provided also detail why a poet has been put in a particular group. Although the diagnoses cannot be taken as truth, since they are historical, they are taken from various diaries, accounts of the poets' lives and medical records. By looking at this sample and comparing it with the control group of the general population, Jamison concludes that: twenty times the general population at least were committed to asylums; thirty times more were were tentatively diagnosed with manic depressive illness, cyclothymia or depressive moods and five times the rate were more likely to kill themselves. The results are described in detail in this chapter, and while she maintains that not all the diagnoses can be taken at face value, it is easy to see that this provides a possibly extravagant but reasonable scientific demonstration.
What follows on are studies by other people and also measurements of the occurrences of mental instability by month. It also displays the productivity of the artists by months; while some produce more effectively in times where their illness is the worst, many produce more when they are more well. It also compares the illnesses among different types of artists: poets, painters, authors, etc.
A case study into the famous poet Lord Byron (George Gordon) is then outlined. His works as well as medical records and family history are used to display illness in his life and those around him, and it illustrates how his illness was displayed throughout his poetry. The same is then done with Alfred, Lord Tennyson; Robert Schumann; the James family; Herman Melville; Samuel Taylor Coleridge; Virginia Woolf; Ernest Hemingway; Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley; Samuel Johnson and James Boswell and Vincent Van Gogh.
This book is not meant to be easy to read, and does not necessarily aim to display that all art is undertaken within mania or great depression. It is not always easy to follow but if you have an interest in the subject it provides an interesting insight.
A parting poem by Lord Byron:
She Walks in Beauty
SHE walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that 's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow'd to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impair'd the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.
And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!
I first read Wasted by the same author by recommendation when I was about 17 and loved it. Not only did it outline what eating disorders are actually like but also sought to quash the various myths about eating disorders among the public.
I first found out from my friend Sam that this book had been written. I have never suffered from Bipolar, but already knew how debilitating it could be, not personally obviously but through hearing of other's experiences. This book added to the small amount of knowledge I already had and provided a great deal of insight into what it is like to experience the exceptional highs and devastating lows of Bipolar.
Hornbacher suffers from the most serious form of Bipolar - that is Bipolar I rapid cycle meaning she experienced the exhilirating life-threatening highs in quick display with the lows, the deep depressions. As with Wasted while displaying what would have been an intensely difficult time in her life, she still manages to display humour and surprise about the things she did while suffering from the worst symptoms. She also talks of the sort of remissions she went into when the medications would be working and her life was in order, only to be replaced by a resurge of symptoms which would again cause havoc in her life.
Even in this day and age there is still a huge degree of discrimination towards people with mental illnesses, this book also displays the surprising comments she received from mental health professionals and shows the huge amount of people who have no idea what Bipolar really is. The book follows every facet of her illness from signs in early childhood, misdiagnosis, good and bad psychiatrists, alcoholism, medications, lifestyle changes to improve her symptoms, recurrence of eating disorder symptoms, countless hospitilisations, treatments apart from medication (ECT), relationship problems, guilt, self injury and career.
I really loved how much insight she seemed to have looking back on her various episodes, how they could seem like nothing and over time turned into something that she could sometimes predict. It really has such a great deal of information, along with humour and quirky stories that kept it not too depressing and left the reader with hope at the end and a lot more information about a mental illness that affects so many people.
